THE socialists have won the regional elections in Andalucía, but only just – and far-right party Vox has soared in the ranks, leading to concerns among the PSOE-led national government.

Current regional president Susana Díaz (PSOE) may be forced to resign, although who ends up governing Andalucía will depend upon coalition agreements between parties, since their presence in the southern territory's Parliament is almost level-pegging.

For an outright majority, any one party would have needed to gain 55 seats, and the reigning PSOE has lost 14 of last year's 47, now down to just 33.

The second-largest outfit in Andalucía's Parliament is the right-wing PP – which was in power in national government until June this year – with 26 seats, meaning a coalition with centre-right Ciudadanos (21 seats) and far-right Vox (12 seats) could place the region under conservative rule.

Adelante Andalucía, a combination of left-wing Podemos and other leftist independent parties, gained 17 seats, but even if they were willing to form a coalition with Susana Díaz's PSOE, they would still be five MPs short of a majority.